Closures are employed to selectively prevent or permit communication between the exterior and interior of a system (e.g., machine, equipment, containment system (including bottles and pouches), etc.). A typical closure has a body and a lid (e.g., cap or cover). The closure body defines at least one passage through the body for communicating with the system opening and can be either (1) a separate structure for being attached to the system at the system opening, or (2) a structure formed as a unitary portion of the system at the opening.
The lid accommodates movement relative to the closure body passage between (1) a fully closed position occluding the passage, and (2) an open position at least partially exposing the passage.
Various substances (including lotions, creams, food items, granules, liquids, powders, small articles, etc.) may be packaged in a rigid, flexible, or collapsible containment system (e.g., bottle, pouch, portable or stationary equipment, machines or other structures, etc.) having a closure that can be opened and closed. If the containment system is a bottle, pouch, or other such container, then such a container with the closure mounted thereon and the contents stored therein may be characterized as a “package.”
A closure for a system may provide an initial hermetic seal and/or may provide an initial tamper-evidency for indicating to a user if the closure integrity has been compromised. One type of such a closure includes a body having a spout defining at least part of the flow passage which is initially sealed closed with a separable membrane. The discharge end of the spout is also covered with a lid that can be removed, or moved away, from the spout so as to “open” the spout and allow access to the separable membrane. Typically, a pull tab or pull ring extends from the membrane. The pull tab or ring projects above the membrane within the spout. The user initially opens the lid, and then grasps the pull tab or ring to pull the membrane so as to separate the membrane from the spout to establish communication between the exterior ambient environment and the interior of the container or other system to which the closure is mounted.
Some spouts may be so small that the user may have difficulty in grasping the pull tab or ring inside the spout. A manufacturer might want to try to overcome this difficulty by extending the pull tab ring outwardly beyond the distal end of the spout. However, the manufacturer might then want to make the closure lid tall enough to accommodate the initially outwardly extending pull tab or ring. Such a design would make the overall package taller and would require more material for manufacturing the taller lid.
The inventors of the present invention have invented a novel structure for a closure for a system wherein the closure includes advantageous features not heretofore taught or contemplated by the prior art.